Zimbabwe: Shabanie, Mambas Draw

BLACK Mambas earned a vital point on the road when they held Shabanie Mine in a Castle Lager Premiership tie at Maglas yesterdy.Shabanie took the lead with former Masvingo United hitman Pervington Zimunya before Godfrey Mangani ensured the policemen returned to Harare with a point when heading home the equaliser.

Premiership top goalscorer Nelson Maziwisa chested a cross from Tarisai Rukanda in the box and Zimunya reacted swiftly releasing a scorcher that hit the roof of the nets with goalkeeper Mateyaunga a mere spectator in the 60th minute. Zimunya could have scored a brace but he was denied by the crossbar five minutes from the breather as the ball rebounded back into play.

Although Maziwisa reacted to the rebound with a header but Mateyaunga saved his effort.

But Mangani is the player who the Chinda Boys fans will hate after he rose shoulders above the miners defence and directed his firm header into the nets with goalkeeper Victor Twaliki a beaten man from a Peter Kachirika corner kick in the 75th minute.

It was the goal the Harare outfit needed as they defended in numbers to make sure that they left the mining town with a point after collecting maximum points last season.

Before the goal Masvingo referee Makonese Masakadza flashed a yellow card to Kasimero Chimbwadza for taking Twaliki's gloves and a water bottle and throwing them away as he suspected the goalminder was using juju to make some fine saves.

The miners should however, shoulder the blame for the loss of points as they underrated Mambas in the first half. Lennon Chisunga who had a subdued game saw his shot tipped over the bar by goalkeeper Mateyaunga in the 16th minute.

Maore atrribute the defeat to the changes he made to the team owing to some injuries to some key players.

"The game was not bad. I had too many changes on the team and people must remember that it is not a star studded side. My boys did a lot of running last Sunday and I can simply say we lost the match because a draw at home is not good enough. We missed chances in the first half and that was the turning point," said Masomere.

Mambas assistant coach Martin Bonongwe said they were satisfied with the result. We could have collected maximum points but it was a tough game. We are quite happy with the result and we will reprimand Kasimero over his conduct. We will work on our finishing before we play Hwange over the weekend," said Martin Bonongwe the assistant coach of the police team.

AllAfrica publishes around 2,000 reports a day from more than 130 news organizations and over 200 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Related

Follow AllAfrica

AllAfrica is a voice of, by and about Africa - aggregating, producing and distributing 2000 news and information items daily from over 130 African news organizations and our own reporters to an African and global public. We operate from Cape Town, Dakar, Lagos, Monrovia, Nairobi and Washington DC.